Vancouver, BC – BC Notaries support the Province of B.C.’s proclamation declaring April 6 to 12, 2015 “Make a Will Week” to encourage residents who don’t have a Will to create one to ensure their final wishes are clear and carried out after their death.

A survey conducted province-wide just a year ago by Mustel Group for The Society of Notaries Public of BC found that only 55% of British Columbian adults have a current and legal Will, and people under 54 are the least likely to have one. The March 2014 omnibus telephone poll[1] of 502 adults in BC found that 20% of people in the 18-to-34 age range, 51% between 35 and 54, and 83% of individuals 55+ have a Will in place.

BC Notaries shared five reasons people under 50 should create a legal Will.

1. Do you have dependant children?

A Will enables you to designate who would care for your dependent children if you die This is particularly important for single parents or blended families where the law may not align with your wishes. If you don’t designate custody, the decision may be made by a stranger through the court system

2. Are you a homeowner?

If you share ownership of your home with a partner or others, it’s important to understand how you own property. There are various ways shared ownership can be structured, and that structure impacts what happens to the ownership of your home if you die. Your local notary can do a title search for you and discuss the various options available to ensure your wishes are possible, and your Will is clear.

3. Are you separated, divorced or living in a common-law relationship?

Creating a Will, and ensuring all your documents are up-to-date is very important for the many people whose relationship status has changed. This will ensure that your assets are divided or assigned as you currently wish them to be.

4. Do you have pets?

For many British Columbians, pets are family. Many people want to ensure their pets will continue to be cared for as they as they are now, even or especially if something were to happen to them. A Will came designate those provisions.

5. Peace of mind

Life is stressful enough. Creating a Will gives you and your family peace of mind that those your assets will go to those you love, and your wishes will be followed. For most people creating a Will takes only one or two or three short visits with your Notary, and gives you confidence in your and your family’s future.

The world’s most famous bond fund manager says the “the cult of equity is dying” and projects minimal returns for both stocks and bonds over the next generation.

In his latest monthly report, Bill Gross dismisses those who believe that U.S. stocks can continue to produce average real returns of 6.6 per cent a year, saying that stock market bulls are failing to account for the much more difficult environment that now looms ahead for corporate profit growth.

Forget the turquoise waters and white-sand beaches of offshore tax havens. Take your hard-earned Canadian pension and head stateside. That’s the advice Robert F. Keats has for snowbirds in his latest book, “A Canadian’s Best Tax Haven: The U.S –Take Your Money and Drive!”

Roughly 1,000 baby boomers retire each day in Canada and too many of them don’t know how to protect their money, according to Keats, a dual citizen and president of cross-border wealth management firm KeatsConnelly.

“Snowbirds are getting the wrong advice with respect to taxes, medical coverage and immigration,” he recently told MoneySense.

While it’s true that anyone with a sizeable RRSP or corporate pension could see upwards of 40% of their nest egg gobbled up by federal and provincial taxes once they begin withdrawals, relocating to the Caymen Islands or the Bahamas isn’t the answer.

Traditional tax haven islands aren’t havens at all for high-net worth Canadians, Keats said. The idea that you’ll keep more of your money on a tropical island is a “myth.”

In an era of SmartPhones, where a mobile phone is considered useless without a camera phone, how can you resist to use it for sharing the dress you just tried in a mall or the hair style in a magazine that you just discovered in its latest issue without buying it?

Well, i bet that most of us would have shared the pictures with our friends or family members to get their review before even buying the dress or getting that hair cut. But have you ever taken the permission of the owner before taking the picture and sharing it?

NEW YORK – We live in a time of high anxiety. Despite the world’s unprecedented total wealth, there is vast insecurity, unrest, and dissatisfaction. In the United States, a large majority of Americans believe that the country is “on the wrong track.” Pessimism has soared. The same is true in many other places.

Against this backdrop, the time has come to reconsider the basic sources of happiness in our economic life. The relentless pursuit of higher income is leading to unprecedented inequality and anxiety, rather than to greater happiness and life satisfaction. Economic progress is important and can greatly improve the quality of life, but only if it is pursued in line with other goals.

In this respect, the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan has been leading the way. Forty years ago, Bhutan’s fourth king, young and newly installed, made a remarkable choice: Bhutan should pursue “gross national happiness” rather than gross national product. Since then, the country has been experimenting with an alternative, holistic approach to development that emphasizes not only economic growth, but also culture, mental health, compassion, and community.

Dozens of experts recently gathered in Bhutan’s capital, Thimphu, to take stock of the country’s record. I was co-host with Bhutan’s prime minister, Jigme Thinley, a leader in sustainable development and a great champion of the concept of “GNH.” We assembled in the wake of a declaration in July by the United Nations General Assembly calling on countries to examine how national policies can promote happiness in their societies.

All who gathered in Thimphu agreed on the importance of pursuing happiness rather than pursuing national income. The question we examined is how to achieve happiness in a world that is characterized by rapid urbanization, mass media, global capitalism, and environmental degradation. How can our economic life be re-ordered to recreate a sense of community, trust, and environmental sustainability?

NEW YORK – Contrary to what skeptics often assert, the case for free trade is robust. It extends not just to overall prosperity (or “aggregate GNP”), but also to distributional outcomes, which makes the free-trade argument morally compelling as well.

The link between trade openness and economic prosperity is strong and suggestive. For example, Arvind Panagariya of Columbia University divided developing countries into two groups: “miracle” countries that had annual per capita GDP growth rates of 3% or higher, and “debacle” countries that had negative or zero growth rates. Panagariya found commensurate corresponding growth rates of trade for both groups in the period 1961-1999.

Of course, it could be argued that GDP growth causes trade growth, rather than vice versa – that is, until one examines the countries in depth. Nor can one argue that trade growth has little to do with trade policy: while lower transport costs have increased trade volumes, so has steady reduction of trade barriers.

More compelling is the dramatic upturn in GDP growth rates in India and China after they turned strongly towards dismantling trade barriers in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. In both countries, the decision to reverse protectionist policies was not the only reform undertaken, but it was an important component.

In the developed countries, too, trade liberalization, which started earlier in the postwar period, was accompanied by other forms of economic opening (for example, a return to currency convertibility), resulting in rapid GDP growth. Economic expansion was interrupted in the 1970’s and 1980’s, but the cause was the macroeconomic crises triggered by the success of the OPEC cartel and the ensuing deflationary policies pursued by then-Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.

Moreover, the negative argument that historical experience supports the case for protectionism is flawed. The economic historian Douglas Irwin has challenged the argument that nineteenth-century protectionist policy aided the growth of infant industries in the United States. He has also shown that many of the nineteenth century’s successful high-tariff countries, such as Canada and Argentina, used tariffs as a revenue source, not as a means of sheltering domestic manufacturers.

Michael has written a great article about Facebook marketing. Here is an excerpt of some key points I found interest and important.

Engagement on the Facebook walls of leading brands is down 22%. Brands aren’t playing for the long term. Engagement is the crown jewel of a community marketer. It’s always talked about and drives the relevance and power of the platform. We reviewed public engagement data for 300 of the top brands on Facebook over a one-year period starting in July 2010. The results show a clear decline in average engagement.

Many are likely to blame Facebook, but it’s more likely that marketers themselves have led to this decline. Dissing audiences with bad content, coupons, polls, contests, and boring filler is the way to blow off engagement in the long run, even if it makes a few campaign results shine in the short term.

Not all 300 brands saw a decline. Some brands were rock stars and beat the Street. The winners included brands like Deutsch, Renault, Hermes, Lowe’s, and Chanel. These brands didn’t have the most fans, but day in and day out, they are performing magic in keeping their fan base engaged.

Local pages drive 36% better results. Global results are built one region at a time. A few words to the wise from our data wizards:

All you investors with your crazy research and economic “theories”: You should just be reading Twitter! Derwent Capital, a hedge fund that bases its investment strategy on Twitter data, outperformed the market in its first month.